Baseboard cord clip



y 2, 1956 P. J. SIMON BASEBOARD c0120 CLIP Filed April 20, 1950 n 5Wm/arm Ti 7N m -/m NM 7 l A United States Patent BASEBOARD CORD CLIPPaul J. Simon, Philadelphia, Pa.

Application April 20, 1950, Serial No. 157,139

2 Claims. (Cl. 24-129) This invention relates to temporary securingmeans for receiving and holding free cords and cables. It is especiallyuseful for holding excess lengths of ordinary electrical extensioncords.

The primary objects of the invention are to provide a retainer clipwhich may be readily installed, as on the floor near a wall, and readilyremoved, into which clip one or more loops or lengths of extension cordmay be quickly inserted, and from which any desired part of the storedcord may be readily pulled or lifted. At the same time it is an objectof the invention to provide a clamp in which lengths of cord, onceinserted, will be securely held against accidental dislodgment. Stillfurther, the invention aims to provide a unit which, once it has beeninstalled, is sufficiently secure to remain in place as cord is pushedinto it or pulled out of it.

How these and other objects of the invention are atrained is illustratedin the accompanying drawing in which- Fig. 1 is a perspective viewshowing the device of the present invention as installed for use.

Fig. 2 is a view of the device itself shown in perspective from adifferent angle.

Referring first to Fig. 1, a section of conventional baseboard 11 isshown resting upon a floor 12. The usual molding or toe board 13 coversthe joint between these members. A standard baseboard electrical outlet14 is shown, having an extension cord 15 connected thereto by means ofthe usual male plug 16. It will be seen that the extension cord 15 hasbeen gathered in a series of loops 17, preferably with that run of thecord which is closest to the outlet end 16 lowermost, and that run ofthe cord which is closest to the appliance end 18 of the cord uppermost.

The loops 17 are shown secured in the retaining clamp of my invention.This clamp A, as a whole, is formed of a single metallic strip orribbon, preferably made of stainless spring steel of about 12 or 14gage.

The perspective views show the clamp from the front, in Fig. 1, and fromthe rear in Fig. 2. Generally considered, it may be said that the clamphas three main elements: a rear support, a front support, and a tonguemember resiliently mounted between these supports. Also, a nose piece orguide is provided to lead cord into the clamp and hinder accidentalremoval from the clamp. A lateral extension or mounting may beincorporated to facilitate installation.

Since the clamp is formed of the convolutions of a single strip, it willfacilitate description to follow the several runs and bends in serialorder. One end 19 of the strip forms a movable closure for the bottom ofa retaining pocket 20 provided to receive loops of the extension cord15. The rear wall of the pocket 20 is provided by a flat orsubstantially flat section 21, resembling a tongue, and the upperclosure of the cord-receiving pocket consists of a flat section 22formed by bending the tongue rather sharply forwardly, as at 23. Areverse bend 24 marks the extremity of the upper closure 22, this bend2,746,112 Patented May 22, 1956 being at a considerably sharper angle,so as to provide a guide flange 25 sloping upwardly and rearwardly whenthe device is in use. Those parts of the strip which have just beendescribed are resiliently held in place by means of the bend 26, whichis formed at an acute angle to the guide flange 25, thus orienting therear support 27 into a position fairly close to the bend 23.

For convenience of manufacture, to increase flexibility, and also toaccommodate displacement of the end 19, the base of the clip ispreferably formed in two lands 28 and 29 by the provision of anobtuse-angle bend 30 between the rear support 27 and the rear land 28,and an acute-angle bend 31 between the rear land 28 and the forward land29. Another obtuse-angle bend 32 brings the strip back to a positionsubstantially parallel to the rear support 27. Thus is provided a frontwall 33 for the cord-retaining pocket 20. The front wall 33 is carriedupwardly to a point somewhat above the bend 24 and is then reverselybent at as shown at 34, so as to provide an outer face member 35preferably in contact with the front wall section 33. The outer facemember 35 is terminated by an obtuse-angle bend 36 providing a toe strip37 which is preferably in contact with the front land 29. Anotherobtuse-angle bend 38 connects the toe strip 37 with the attaching heel39. This attaching heel extends generally in a direction which is normalto the rear support 27, although I prefer to impose a small degree ofarcuity on at least a portion of it so as to provide spring action whenit is inserted beneath a molding strip or baseboard, as shown in Fig. 1.Alternatively, the heel need not be normal to the clamp as a whole, butmay, for example, extend downwardly from the lower bend, to form anattaching ear to nail the clamp to a wall, or to slip behind the upperrim of a door jam.

Since it may be desirable under some circumstances to install theretaining clamp independently of the position of a baseboard or moldingstrip, the heel is terminated in a flat section 40, which may beapertured to receive a nail or screw 41 to provide for attachmentdirectly to any suitable surface.

It will be seen that the clamp just described is easily andinexpensively manufactured, may be installed or removed with very littledilficulty, and yet readily receives, securely holds, and readilyreleases excess lengths of ordinary extension cord or similar strandedmaterial.

In operation, it will be found that, since the front wall 33 is carrieda little above the bend 24, the space provided between the nose or guideflange 25 and the upper end of the front wall 33 facilitates insertionof a length of cord into the retaining pocket 20. Additional loops maybe formed and inserted with equal ease, depending upon the extent ofexcess length to be accommodated, until substantially all of theextension cord from the outlet end to the appliance end is neatlygathered up and housed, with the appliance in a standby position. Yet,when the appliance is moved into a working position, and additional cordlength is required, it is not even necessary to release the cordmanually from the retaining space, since nothing more than a tug on theline will suflice to free it from the retaining clamp. Nevertheless, theupper closure 22 reduces the possibility of accidentally dislodging thecord.

It is an advantage of the present device that, because of the yieldingrestraint imposed by movement of the tongue-like wall 21 of the cordpocket, the storage space 20 increases as the number of cord sectionsinserted in it increases, While at the same time the total distance fromfront to back of the clamp remains substantially constant. This tends toprevent wedging of one run of cord against another, which is a commondrawback in U shaped clips heretofore known. In such clips, the wedgingeffect sometimes jams the cord so tightly as to spring the legs of the Ubeyond the elastic limit of the clip when an attempt is made to pull thecord free. This results in permanent distortion of the clip.

It is, of course, obvious that circumstances may suggestthe'desirability of using the clamps in pairs or even in greaternumbers, so as to accommodate unusually long extension cords commonlyfound in association with waflle irons and similar equipment.

It is also apparent that some changes in the orientation of theconvolutions just described may be made without departing from thespirit of the invention. Thus, it may be preferable, from a quantityproduction standpoint, to substitute right-angle bends at 30, 32, and36, thus eliminating the acute-angle bend at 31 and the obtuseangle bendat 38. If this is done, clearance for the tip 19 to swing towards therear wall must be allowed. I prefer the arrangement shown because itautomatically results in providing slightly greater resilience andfreedom of movement for the front support, consisting of wall section 33and face strip 35.

In this connection, it should be noted that I prefer to facilitateinsertion or removal of cord loops by providing resilience, as justmentioned, not only at the bend 26 but also at the base of the frontwall 33. A stiffer fastening may be secured by reducing the resilienceat the base, as by substituting a sharper bend or by forming alongitudinal crease or dent in the strip at this point.

Various types of resilient strip may be used. Phosphorbronze givesexcellent results, and, where painting or enamelling is in prospect,cold rolled steel. Other resilient metals or alloys may be substituted.Synthetic resins may likewise be used, though not, so far as I have beenable to determine, with results as good as those obtained when usingsteel. If the resilience is low, so that pressure of the tongle againstthe cord is slight, it is desirable to increase the resistance toaccidental displacement of the cord by facing the rear surface of thefront wall 33 and the front surface of the tongue 21 with frictionmaterial, such as latex or its derivatives.

I claim:

1. A retaining clip for cords, having planar front, rear, andintermediate members of similar length, bridge means at the base of saidmembers connecting front and rear mem r o e h a y e d ng y ma n ining min substantially parallel spaced planes, a resilient connectionsupporting the intermediate member from the free end of the rear memberand yieldingly maintaining the intermediate member in a plane whichtransects the parallel planes of the front and rear members, with thefree end of the intermediate member terminating short of but closelyadjacent to the line of connection between the front member and thebridge piece, said resilient connection supporting the intermediatemember being constructed and arranged to yield more readily than saidbridge means connecting the front and rear members.

2. The device of claim 1 wherein the resilient connection between thefree end of the rear member and the intermediate member is configured tospan the distance between front and rear members and to connect with theintermediate member at a locus adjacent the rear member, whereby toprovide a space between the front member and the intermediate memberwithin which a plurality of runs of cord may be housed under lightrestraint while still permitting the front member to occupy a positionsubstantially parallel to the rear member.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS256,999 Green Apr. 25, 1882 320,260 Knuth June 16, 1885 337,200 SargentMar. 2, 1886 362,760 Mather May 10, 1887 750,526 Ferguson Jan. 26, 19041,753,013 Lindmark Apr. 1, 1930 1,772,687 Reinke Aug. 12, 1930 1,944,343Herman Jan. 23, 1934 2,157,788 Howell May 9, 1939 2,251,744 Kurath et alAug. 5, 1941 2,332,855 Jones Oct. 26, 1943 2,539,825 Genua Jan. 30, 1951FOREIGN PATENTS 131,991 Switzerland of 1929 537,445 Germany Nov. 3, 1931

